Amazon

As independent musicians, writing and performing in the roots music genre, we are very fortunate to be able to write and record songs in the way we truly feel them, with no artificial filters or barriers between our artistic intent, and you, the listener. This is what it means to be independent, after all!

The other thing that “independent” means is that selling our albums is entirely up to us, with a lot of help from our street team of fans, friends and family. We don’t have big distribution chains helping us out, or promotion machines that get our music in front of new listeners; all that work is done at the grass roots level, every time we set up and play a show, or every time one of you mentions us to someone you know, and (especially) every time you come to a show. Truly, independent music is a unique and hard-working way of life, and we would not stand a chance without your help.

But being independent does not mean that we’re immune from interacting with the large-scale corporate players when selling and distributing our album—players like Amazon, for example. Amazon is the go-to online market place for many consumers, making it an essential piece of just about any current-day commercial operation. But the inner workings of Amazon—particularly in the realm of music distribution—are not widely known. So, I thought an inside look at how Amazon works might help us all out.

The Amazon business model works on volume. Sellers on Amazon make money only when they sell large amounts of whatever it is they’re selling. This works fine if you have a big distribution chain working for you, or are part of the mainstream music machine that sells hundreds of thousands of CDs. But the model is not adjusted for independent artists, so for smaller players, the numbers don’t work as well.

Here’s what happens when you order our CD:

I write this in hope that it helps you out, when thinking about purchasing from any musician out there. Amazon’s business model is not readily apparent to consumers, and I hope this helps give you an inside look.